St. Francis de Sales on our sanctification

photo credit: Betsy Barber

But the divine goodness has not called you to the state in which you find yourself without strengthening you for all this. It is for Him to perfect His work. True, it takes quite a while, because the matter requires it; but patience.

In short, for the honor of God, acquiesce entirely in His will, and by no means believe that you can better serve Him otherwise; for He is never well served save when He is served as He wills.

-St. Francis de Sales, from Thy Will Be Done: Letters to Persons in the World

The part of this quotation that stood out to me was that little "because the matter requires it".

And what is the "matter"? Our sanctification. Making us like him. Teaching and caring for us, his sons and daughters in the world.

Because the matter requires it. I can well believe my sanctification requires time! But what really struck me about this was the implication of God's care for us. He loves us. He will take the time that's needed to perfect his work in us.

Because the matter requires it. And he finds the matter important enough to take the time for.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

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St. Francis de Sales, on bearing fruit in God's good time

This quotation reminds me of a children's picture book I reviewed recently:

The trees only fructify through the presence of the sun - some sooner, others later, some every year, others every three years, and not all equally. Let us be very happy to be able to stay in the presence of God, and let us be satisfied that He will make us bear our fruit, sooner or later, always or sometimes, according to His good pleasure, to which we must entirely resign ourselves.

-St. Francis de Sales, Thy Will Be Done: Letters to Persons in the World

Let us stay in the presence of God.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Links! "Intellect and Romance Over Brute Force and Cynicism"

Gosh, combine two of my favorite things in the entertainment industry today - that'd be Doctor Who and The Craig Ferguson Show - and you get this awesome song. Which is awesome (minus weird sailor dude). (And from which we get the title of today's post.)

On a more serious note, Simcha Fisher's post about there being no petty virtues is really good.

It might be a bit late for me to do this this year, but I'm saving this idea for next year: Helping Siblings Christmas Shop for Each Other.

Also, just wanted to point everyone towards Quotidian Moments, because she's doing a cool series where she's going through the nonfiction she's accumulated on her bookshelf over the years, and posting notes on the high points of each book as she decides whether or not to keep it. It's interesting reading!

This snowflake craft is everything a Christmas craft should be: pretty, fun, and easy to clean up!

And speaking of Christmas crafts, here's a really impressive page full of them - and most of these look like they'd appeal to the 2-4 set, as well as school-age kids, which is a big bonus in my book.